Necessary Tips for Services Businesses

By its very definition, a services business offers….services. Marketing agencies, law firms, architects, event planners, software and technical consultants, engineering firms, publishers, accountants, and more all provide a service (rather than create a product to sell).

As a company that provides a robust ERP to services businesses, we’re in the trenches with our clients and we’ve watched as our customers grow and evolve. As such, we’ve noticed a few things a service business may miss when it comes to becoming the best it can be not only in servicing its customers but also in running itself and growing its revenue.

With that in mind, here is one important strategy we feel is critical moving forward, plus some tips on how to implement it.

Look for continuous or recurring revenue streams.

Once business fulfills the services for which a client has engaged it, then what? Revenue stops and the business needs to get additional clients.

Continuous revenue streams – perhaps with retainer clients or some kind of subscription model – can bring in multiples of recurring revenue each year.

So look at what your customers need and how you can fulfill them. If clients keep asking if you offer such and such service, perhaps it’s time that you do.

Understand that you may not be able to perform this new service as well as you do your core services. This is to be expected, and you don’t have to (as this article says) “over-invest in under-appreciated” services. You are trying to capture additional revenue with services your current customers want. Just make sure you continue to provide excellent benefits to them via your core offerings.

And, if your clients ask if you sell certain types of products, if it’s within your realm of expertise (or partnering with someone with the expertise), you may want to consider also having physical products related to your services. (Law firms could sell books on how to incorporate a business, for example.)

The challenges of adding new revenue streams.

Aim not to overcomplicate this process. Find a need and solve it in a relatively simple, straightforward way. Understand that you may not be able to bring on all the new revenue streams you’d like because they may not go well with your core business, and that that is OK. All you really need to do is provide a solution to a basic customer need in a way that brings you some sort of profit.

Technology and automation affecting a services business.

Adding more revenue streams to your service business is far easier today than it ever was due to the incredible technological tools now available. A cloud-based ERP such as Aysling can help just about any service business create, manage, promote, and maintain any new service offering it may choose to bring on board.

Talk to us about how Aysling can help your services business add new revenue streams.